Plated on my lovely new plate from Istanbul, bequeathed me by the equally lovely V.ChopinReincarnate.

These are naughty cookies. Or, more correctly, I’m a naughty cookie baker. Not because I (once more) deviated from a written recipe in order to encompass the shortages/advantages of my still-growing pantry, but because cookies, by their very nature, are antithetical to what my doctor told me I should be increasing in my diet: saltiness.

I mentioned, in my last post, that I’ve been put on a low dose of blood pressure medication. This medication is supposed to get my body to stop ignoring my extremities, blood-circulation-wise, which should in turn stop my toe being such an attention-seeking diva. When my doctor handed me the prescription, she said I should increase my salt intake and liquids. And for the past few days, I have. My unsalted nuts have been replaced with salted nuts, and I’ve made myself savoury oatmeal instead of peanut-butter-cinnamon-brown-sugar oatmeal in the mornings (don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it).

My friends, I cannot express how difficult it was to not eat this entire mixture raw. Particularly seeing as a Raw Lifestyle is so hyped these days – I’d’ve practically done myself a favour be eating the entire bowl while reading Cloud Street.

Unfortunately, I’m not a big fan of overly-salty foods, and so when I decided that today’s grey Canberran skies necessitated baking… well, clearly, I didn’t bake crackers or cheese crisps or stock-powder-vegemite-anchovy-caper meringues. (Mmm, anchovy meringues.)

Nope. I needed sweetness, but sweetness with a complex darker edge, sweetness in the form of a hazelnut-riff on an amaretti cookie, sweetness that resulted in a crisp, firm outside and a moist (at least when warm-out-of-the-oven), soft, intensely-nutty middle.

I should probably dip these cookies in soy sauce, though. Sigh.

These Hazerettis won’t win the Miss Cookie Universe competition, but I assure you the tastiness far outweighs any shot at a tiara.

Hazeretti Cookies

Apart from the egg whites, I switched up every ingredient in the original recipe. Wholemeal for plain flour, hazelnut for almond, raw caster for caster sugar and, most significantly, almond extract for vanilla extract. If you aren’t a fan of the strong, bitter edge to almond extract, stick with the sweeter, smoother vanilla extract. I, however, would be happy to use almond extract like perfume and live in it, so I snubbed the vanilla..

180g hazelnut meal

3/4 cup raw caster sugar

1/3 cup wholemeal plain flour

2 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

First, prepare yourself for an arduous, stressful, complicated eon of baking. And then giggle because that’s the opposite of what you’ll be doing. Say it with me now: Hurrah!

Preheat oven to 170°C (340°F). In a large bowl, mix together everything with a spoon or utensil of your choosing (best avoid the whisk and the zester, though). It might look a bit dry and crumbly at first, but will eventually start coming together. It is quite a dry dough, though.

Shape tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place on baking trays lined with baking paper. Gently press each ball to flatten (except I didn’t really do this. I kept them as balls, just for Amber). Bake for 20 minutes, until golden.

Nom nom nom. These would be great with coffee, as they’re quite sweet but also, because of the almond extract, intense enough to hold their own against coffee’s similar strength.

i was also once told to up my salt intake, as my blood pressure was veeeeeeery low (mostly because of running crazy distances/being stupidly fit), and i would be hit with the woozies/dizzies/brain-fuzzies every time i stood up/sat down/moved my head/breathed. hahaha man, i bet my doctor wishes he’d never told me that, because i took it and RAAAAAAN with it. What? You don’t put soy sauce on your bacon? Huh? It’s not normal to spread vegemite on olives? Regular people don’t usually add extra stock and sea salt to their 2-minute-noodles? That’s crazy-talk!

Okay, I’m not *quite* that bad, but I have well and truly embraced the salt lifestyle (I never used to add salt to ANYTHING..except maybe eggs). It’s funny, though.. I think the saltiest foods i eat are also the sweetest. I’m always having peanut butter, honey and sea salt sandwiches. Or sprinkling sea salt on nutella/maple syrup/jam/whatever.. I tend to add more salt to supposedly “sweet” foods than I do to the “savoury” ones.

Moral of the story: adding salt to your diet doesn’t have to involve cutting back on sweet stuff!!!

Now send me some of those cookies so I can sprinkle them with sea salt, wrap them in bacon, and deep fry them in maple syrup 😀

Oh these look delicious!!! I would never judge you on your cinnamon brown sugar peanut butter oatmeal – that sounds so good!

I am usually very cold too (extremeties are blue sometimes!!) and have very low blood pressure, but my doctor thinks it’s just because I run so much. Maybe I should make it an excuse to eat more salt? 🙂

Oh, goody! Another use for egg whites! (I’ve been on an ice-cream-making tear, and that generally leaves lots of lonely egg whites.) I also fully approve of substituting hazelnuts for almonds, in pretty much any circumstance.

L-Izzle: I’d really like you to explain how to deep fry something *in* maple syrup… wouldn’t that be more of a dredging? (Hey, you’re the one who went on about how you won’t stand for improper use of the English language! ;)) The doctor could’ve just told you to eat a bowl of cornflakes each day – that stuff is crazy high in salt!

Whisperinggums: Absolutely they would! It’s such a small amount of flour and a lot of amaretti recipes don’t use flour at all. If I’d been making these at your place, I would’ve used gluten-free flour from the beginning.

Fiona: My thoughts exactly.

Johanna: Salted caramel is one of the yummiest sweet things out there – although I have to admit I’m actually a little bit bored with the combination these days. I’m ready for there to be a new dessert-trend in the world! 😀

Simply Life: Thanks!

Chelsey: Thank you! And it sounds like you don’t need an *excuse* to increase your salt – it sounds like you *need* to for your health!! I get blue fingers and feet too – but, of course, I definitely don’t run long distances! Because of my toe I’ve done nothing but amble slowly for the past year 😛

Camille: The Camille tick of approval? Who could ask for anything more! Teehee, I’m the opposite – I usually end up with lots of leftover yolks from making meringue-based desserts.

Lauren: Oooh, those cookies do sound good! My doctor has always said that my issue is Raynaud’s… if only I’d got this message of yours before going to the surgery this morning, I could have asked her! Ah well, I’ll see what happens with the medication for the next little while. Are you still on those pills?

[…] about the flavour of bitter almonds. Personally, I love such flavours (see my hazeretti cookies here) so could’ve done with a bigger punch of extract, but I can appreciate the subtle sweet nuttiness […]

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About

Hannah. Writer, editor, firm believer in socks, gin, laughter, buttered toast, cheesecake, and semicolons. Currently back in Canberra after two years living in Canada; heart tingling to see what happens next.